Thursday, October 11, 2012

Romney proudly explains how he's turned his campaign around (The Onion)

For weeks many Beltway insiders had written off the Romney campaign as dead, saying the candidate had dug himself into too deep a hole with too little time to recover. However, with a month to go before ballots are cast, Romney has pulled even with President Obama, and the former Massachusetts governor credits his rejuvenated campaign to one, singular tactic: lying a lot.

“I’m lying a lot more, and my lies are far more egregious than they’ve ever been,” a smiling Romney told reporters while sitting in the back of his campaign bus, adding that when faced with a choice to either lie or tell the truth, he will more than likely lie. “It’s a strategy that works because when I lie, I’m essentially telling people what they want to hear, and people really like hearing things they want to hear. Even if they sort of know that nothing I’m saying is true.” [....]

“The best part is, it’s really easy to lie,” said Romney, who added that voicing whatever untruths come into his mind at any given moment is an easy thing to do because all it requires is opening his mouth and talking. [....]

Moreover, Romney said, if anyone does accuse him of lying, he will simply say he is not lying, which he noted is just an extension of the overall strategy. [....]

Actually, it's not clear to me whether Romney is telling more lies than he was telling previously, during what has been an exceptionally dishonest campaign. (Steve Benen, for example, has been keeping a useful weekly tally since January 2012.) But Romney does seem to be telling different lies, and assuming that people's memories are so short that he can easily get away with it. If we do let him get away with it, the consequences will be severe (and, to quote the day-before-yesterday Romney, "severely conservative").

=> Once again, it's only fair to acknowledge that Republicans and right-wingers have no monopoly on cynical dishonesty in general or outright political lying in particular. But anyone who tries to pretend that there has been moral equivalence between the Romney and Obama campaigns in these respects is either not facing reality or is being ... less than fully honest.

For weeks many Beltway insiders had written off the Romney campaign
as dead, saying the candidate had dug himself into too deep a hole with
too little time to recover. However, with a month to go before ballots
are cast, Romney has pulled even with President Obama, and the former
Massachusetts governor credits his rejuvenated campaign to one, singular
tactic: lying a lot.

“I’m lying a lot more, and my lies are far more egregious than
they’ve ever been,” a smiling Romney told reporters while sitting in the
back of his campaign bus, adding that when faced with a choice to
either lie or tell the truth, he will more than likely lie. “It’s a
strategy that works because when I lie, I’m essentially telling people
what they want to hear, and people really like hearing things they want
to hear. Even if they sort of know that nothing I’m saying is true.”

“It’s a freeing strategy, really, because I don’t have to worry about
facts or being accurate or having any concrete positions of any kind,”
Romney added.

Romney said he is telling at least 80 percent more lies now than he
was two months ago. Buoyed by his strong debate performance, which by
his own admission included 40 or 50 instances of lying in one 90-minute
period, the candidate said he will continue to “just openly lie [his]
ass off” until the Nov. 6 election.

Whether it’s a senior citizen, military family, working mother,
businessman, or middle-class American, Romney said, he will lie to every
single one of them as often as he can if that’s what it takes to win
the presidency.

“The best part is, it’s really easy to lie,” said Romney, who added
that voicing whatever untruths come into his mind at any given moment is
an easy thing to do because all it requires is opening his mouth and
talking.

“For example, if someone accuses me of having a tax plan that
makes no discernable sense, I just lie and say that I do have a tax plan
that makes sense. I also say there is a study that backs up my plan.
See that? Simple. None of it is remotely true, of course, but now we’re
moving on to the next topic because people are usually too afraid to ask
me straight up if I’m lying, because that is apparently not something
you ask someone who is running for president.”

Moreover, Romney said, if anyone does accuse him of lying, he will simply say he is not lying, which he noted is just an extension of the overall strategy.

“So, if I’m talking to retirees,” Romney continued, “I lie and say
I’ll fight tooth and nail to save Medicare, which causes them to
applaud. On the other hand, if I’m talking to the party base, I lie and
say we have to cut Medicare, which causes them to applaud. So,
you see, my goal here is to get everyone applauding for me, because if
everyone is clapping their hands, standing on their feet, and shouting
my name, that means they like me and will vote for me.”

Romney’s campaign advisers said that they adopted the strategy of
lying a lot after realizing several things: (1) Lying sounds good,
especially when the truth sounds bad, (2) the American media
doesn’t care if you lie, (3) the American people don’t care if you lie,
and (4) it’s okay to lie if you are very, very desperate to become the
president of the United States.

“If we’re going to be carried into the White House,
it’s going to have to be on a wave of lies,” Romney campaign manager
Matt Rhoades said. “Most important, Mitt is comfortable when he is lying
because then he doesn’t have to say anything bad. And in this last
month it’s important that we just let Mitt be Mitt, whoever the hell
that is.”

“It’s late in the game, but this campaign has finally found its
groove,” Rhoades added. “And that groove is lying. Bald-faced,
make-no-apologies, dirty, filthy lying.”

According to Romney, amidst all the lies, there is only one thing that remains true.

“I literally have no clue where I stand on any single issue at this
point,” said Romney, adding that when it comes to women’s rights, gay
rights, health care, the middle class, the economy, or the U.S.
military, all he knows is how to lie about them. “I understand what
other people want. And what I’ve learned, especially in the past week,
is that in order to be a viable candidate for the White House, that’s
all you really need to know.”

Following the interview, Romney told various reporters that, if elected, he would save the newspaper industry.

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About Me

Jeff Weintraub is a social & political theorist, political sociologist, and democratic socialist who has been teaching most recently at the University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr College. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University in 2015-2016 and is currently a Research Associate at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College.
(Also an Affiliated Professor with the University of Haifa in Israel & an opponent of academic blacklists.)